There’s no Business like Show Business!

It was about 11 years ago that I interviewed the actress Pauline Quirke. We were talking about her long and very successful acting career which she had begun aged 9 years old with an appearance in Dixon of Dock Green. Our conversation turned to the academy which she had started in 2007 in her home town of Beaconsfield and at that time was beginning to open more. She said she discovered acting at the age of 9 when a couple of after-school clubs were formed by local teachers. One was Country Dancing, the other was a Drama club. Not fancying Country Dancing, Pauline joined the Drama Club and has not looked back since. I went home that night and told my Wife all about it and said it would be a great idea for her to open one here in Mallorca. For those of you that don’t know my Wife she has been dancing since she was 4yrs and went to a local dancing school in her home town in Bedford, England. She then went on to train at London Studio Centre in London, where she received a Diploma in Musical Theatre. From there she worked as a professional dancer touring with dance companies around the world which brought her to Mallorca. She became Captain Scarlet at Pirates Adventure where we met and married. We set up a meeting with Pauline and her husband Steve and after visiting some of the academies in the UK we decided it was perfect for Mallorca. It opened in February 2009 at the Agora school in Portals and celebrated 10 years with a great show last weekend. 80 Children performed Getting to know the Sound Of Music which was a great success and a culmination of lots of hard work from both the kids and teachers.

The academy here has gone from strength to strength and that is down to the hard work and dedication from Rachael and her staff who provide the kids aged 4-18 years old with a superb grounding in musical theatre, comedy and drama and film and TV. She says “Every Saturday I look forward to seeing what our students will achieve next. We understand that every student is unique – they will have different talents, skills and performance levels. We will always encourage and make everyone feel at home. It makes me very proud to see our students grow in confidence, perform and ultimately learn new skills which they can use later in life.” The success here mirrors the academies in the UK who now number over 160 in 105 locations with some places having more than one.

Someone who started her career at theatre school was Ariana Grande. As a young child, Grande performed with the Fort Lauderdale Children’s Theatre, playing her first role as the title character in Annie. She also performed in the musicals The Wizard of Oz and Beauty and the Beast. Her first big break came in 2008, when the 15-year-old landed the role of Charlotte in the Broadway production of 13, a play focusing on life growing up in New York City. The early role led to accolades, and Grande won a National Youth Theatre Association Award.

Fast forward to today and she has become the first artist since The Beatles to hold all three top spots on The Billboard Hot 100 chart.

She holds the number 1, 2, and 3 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart simultaneously, the first time since The Beatles in 1964. Her album. ‘Thank u, next’ also debuted at number 1 on the albums chart.

The pop star released the LP last week, just six months after her previous record, ‘Sweetener’.

Grande’s ‘7 Rings’ is at number 1 for a fourth week, whilst ‘Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored’ made its debut at number 2. ‘Thank u, next’, meanwhile, went to number 3 from 7. All three songs are taken from Grande’s number 1 album of the same name.

Between March and April 1964, The Beatles held the top three spots for five weeks, Number 1 was Can’t Buy Me Love,” Number 2 “Twist and Shout” and number 3 “Do You Want to Know a Secret,” Thus, the last time the honour was earned, the No. 1 song was about how “I don’t care too much for money; money can’t buy me love”; “7 Rings” finds Grande declaring “retail therapy my new addiction.”

Here in the UK she has 3 songs in the top 10 and currently holds the number 1 and number 2 places. She can’t seem to do anything wrong at the moment.

Remember the Smurfs? Nearly 3,000 people came together to break a world record for the most human Smurfs in one place.

In total, 2,762 blue-painted and white-capped participants met in Lauchringen on the Upper Rhine, Germany to break the record that had previously belonged to students in Wales and stood at 2,510.

Over the weekend, organisers were delighted to announce they had surpassed the old mark with children, adults and the elderly all taking part.

The Smurfs were created by Belgian cartoonist Pierre Culliford in 1958. It’s not known if the Police were heard saying “where are you all coming from?”(come on, tell me you didn’t sing the next line!)

We went to see Real Mallorca play last Sunday. The weather was glorious and actually the football was too. It’s a mystery to why they can blow teams at home and yet when they go away it’s a different story. In fact their home record is only bettered by 3rd placed Osasuna so why the problem away? I’m looking at a team that looks solid at the back, has a good defensive and creative midfield and with their transfer window signings up front they look dangerous going forward. Let’s hope they do the business in Tenerife on Friday night. With two home games to follow they could see themselves in the promotion mix. I mentioned Atlético Baleares last week and they are currently top of their league in Segunda B. This weekend they are playing Barcelona B who I’m sure will have plenty of promising youngsters on show. I know that at the time of writing the game had nearly sold out. It will be shown on IB3 here in Mallorca at 12 Midday on Sunday.

Both my sons play Atlético Baleares in their respective age groups this Weekend. Jude my youngest on Saturday and Jake my eldest will play straight after the Barca game on Sunday. Would be great if the crowd hung around.

Enjoy your weekend!

Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday 07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone, Android, The Tunein Radio App and on the Spanish TDT TV service. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance!

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Published by somethingforyourmallorcaweekend

I've lived and worked in Mallorca since 1990. I've worked at Pirates Adventure since 1994 and set up Radio One Mallorca in 2009. This blog will give you my news, views and my life on our island in the sun.
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